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I've filed my CT600 last night without an accountant's help for the first time :) - I encourage anyone to at least attempt this themselves also.
So long as your turnover is under £6.5m and your affairs aren't too complex, the procedure involves taking the Trial Balance summaries from FreeAgent and using the figures when filling in the HMRC accounts PDF - it is really quite straight forward.
Just remember, the absolute minimum an accountant does is:
1) Input FreeAgent Trial Balance Summary figures into the HMRC PDF or commercial software.
2) Fill out HMRC Accounts PDF directly or attach iXBRL accounts.
3) Press "send" in the HMRC PDF and wait for confirmation.
I suspect quite a handful of FreeAgent users are capable of doing this themselves.
A good accountant will do a lot more, but if you use google and this forum correctly, I believe for many FreeAgent users, all this can be done without an accountant:
1) Check opening balance is correct
2) Check bank statement matches what's in FreeAgent
3) Review expenses (look for disallowed or omitted)
4) Deal with director's loans e.g. interest, overdrawn loans, section 419 liability, etc (if applicable)
5) Deal with year end work-in-progress
6) Use of home as office (may need accountant here)
PAYE/Dividend Specific:
1) Review PAYE tax code, figures and dividends.
2) P45 and other forms.
VAT Registered:
1) Look over items you are claiming VAT on.
Please correct me if I've missed anything out.
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I’m
confrontational with accountants
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Hello Roman,
Many thanks for this and I'm glad you've successfully filed your CT600 using the information from FreeAgent.
However, I have to sound a note of caution.
The tax calculations you mention are quite involved, such as s419 liabilities, and we wouldn't recommend that our users attempt these calculations without either a) a good working knowledge of company accounts and tax (which you clearly have) or b) the help and support of a good accountant.
There are quite a number of tax pitfalls involved with running a limited company and it is important to make sure you're not caught out.
Kind regards,
Emily-
Dear Emily,
Thank you for your kind words.
Some of the items, including s419 liabilities weren't actually applicable in my case. My intention was to make a fairly comprehensive list of items a good accountant will deal with and to let users decide which items they would or wouldn't like an accountant's help with.
I suspect there are a fair amount of FreeAgent users in my position, with fairly trivial tax affairs, that can get by using the Trial balance figures from FreeAgent and HMRC's free software.
Kindest Regards,
Roman -
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I’m
afraid that you are never going to get it
It is official those 5 years of studying and 40+hours CPD forced upon me to retain my professional status each year have been wasted. The black magic of accounting has been unveiled all you need is a bookkeeping program and a working knowledge of Google.
This may be the last you hear of me as I am off to shut down my accountancy practice.
The worst thing is that unless you happen to be singled out for an investigation by HMRC the likelihood is that you will get away with filing what you want whether it is correct or not.- view 1 more comment
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The above comment was a sarcastic response to a sarcastic post.
There are times when you need to consult with an accountant, especially if your affairs are more complex. However the government have done a lot in recent years to make it easier for the small business owner to do their accounts themselves. I can explain every expense, every VAT claim, every figure in my statutory accounts and I welcome any audit - I'm not trying to get away with anything.
I used to have my accounts prepared either by freelance accountants and I also used a very large reputable firm for 1 year. Now that I've decided to take control of all the company accounting affairs, I have better insight into how my own business works and I found many mistakes in accounts prepared professionally in previous years.
Examples include: refunds listed as income, folders of expenses skipped, capital assets not being depreciated, paypal account statements not being looked at, car repairs expensed illegally, vat not being backdated, vat claimed on disallowed items, use of home not being expensed, all sundry items being disallowed, anual parties not being expensed, letters from HMRC being kept from us, bad advise such as using cash with a business bank account that led to charges, etc, etc. -
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Having spent the last few hours doing what the last accountant didn't do, I'm on Roman's side rather than the profession's!
The previous accountant:
1) Didn't update FreeAgent so that the figures agreed with her final accounts
2) Didn't reconcile the VAT in the trial balance to the VAT returns
3) Didn't reconcile the PAYE in the trial balance to the P35.
4) Didn't update the corporation tax liability in FreeAgent
5) Didn't reverse the accruals and more importantly the creditors brought forward in FreeAgent
and I could go on! -
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I’m
thankful
Thanks for posting this info Roman! :-)
Regarding iXBRL - are you saying that for a small company, you didn't have to submit your accounts in this format, and were able to just manually enter the figures into the HMRC PDF instead?
I completed the HMRC PDF myself last year, but feared that submitting the accounts in iXBRL format was mandatory this year.
Thanks,
Stephen-
As long as you use the "calculator" in the HMRC PDF, it will generate your statutory accounts with all the required iXBRL tags.
If you don't use the calculator then you do indeed need some kind of final accounts software and then some iXBRL tagging software - I didn't need either for my accounts :) -
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EMPLOYEE
